Street-gar indicator



B. F. MUCAULEY.

STREET UAB INDIoAToB.

AFPLIOATIOH FILED JAN. 16. 1908.

Patented Deo m mv attmup,

Aao

apparatus, on an enlarged scale.

BENJAMIN F.' MCCAULEY, OF ALTOON'A, PENNSYLVANIA.

' STREET-GAR INDICATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented nec. 22, 190s.

Application filed January 15, 1908. Serial No. 410,988.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEY, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Altoona, in the county of Blair and State of Pennsylvania, `have invented a new and useful Street-Car Indicator, of which the following is a speciiication. y

This invention relates to street car indicators. l l

The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of this character that shall be simple of construction, eliicient and durable in operation, inA which the cooperative parts shall be so constructed and arranged as to be practically prooi against derangement from ong continued and rough usage, and in which the shifting of the curtain to expose the names of the successive streets or stations shall be accompanied by an audible 'signal of a character to attract attention, and thus `insurethe carrying out of the object for which the device is designed.

With the above and other objects in view, as will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction and combination of partsof a street car indicator, as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings forming a lpart of this specification., and in which like characters of reference indicate correspond- 111g Parts, Flgure 1 1s a view 1n front elevation, partly in section, of. an indicator con-I structed in accordance with the present in vention. Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation, partly in section. Fig. 3 is a horizontal's'ectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4isa detail view, von an enlarged scale, of a portion of the operating mec anism. Fig. 5 is a sec-- tional detail view of another portion ofl the l Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail view of a portion of the curtain. Fig. 7 is a detail view of one of the endlesscurtains spread out iiat to show the arrangement of the names of the streets thereon.

The indicating mechanism is housed within a casing, designatedl generally 1, which is constructed of metal, of any preferred character, and is provided'with a hinged door 2 'near the top of which is formed a transverse slot, back of which is'. supported, in any preferred manner,` a narrow strip 3 of glass. lt is through the sight opening thus provided thatthe name of the street orrstation ap- BENJAMIN McCau-v 1 pears, as shown in Fig. 1, and as all of the remainder of the d'oor is opaque, there will be no danger of the occupants of the c ar making a mistake in reading the directions.

The indicating mechanism comprises, in part, an endless curtain 1, of any suitable material, and upon which is printed, or otherwise exhibited, the names of the streets across which the carl carrying the apparatus passes. 'l'his curtain is supported upon a plurality of rollers 5,'6, 7, 9 and 10, thelatter of which is the driven roller. Each o these rollers is, by preference, made of a cylinder ofsheetymetal, or a tube, .and each, with the exception of the roller 10, has at each end a dished guard 11. 'lhese guards may be secured with the rollers or cylinders. in any preferred manner and carry pintles 12 that constitute shafts of the rollers. 'lhese pintles are headed, as shown at 13 in Fig. 5, and work in bearings formed in brackets 14 riveted, or otherwise secured, to the sides of the casing, as shown in Fig. 5.

In addition tothe rollers above described, there is a plain cylindrical tension roller 15. employed, which'is preferably of solid metal, and has its journals 16 mounted Within the slots 17 of a pair of guides 18 (one only being shown) that are firmly secured to the sides of the casing adjacent to the front thereof.` It will be seen that this tension roller will operate always to hold the curtain drawn tightly 'and smooth and will thereby prevent the formation of wrinkles.

The roller v:10 has secured at one end a' ksprocket Wheel 19, and at its otherfend a miter gear 20 that is adapted to mesh`with asimilar gear 21 rigid with a stub shaft 22 that is loosely jounaled at its inner end in the vback wall' of the casing, and at its louter endy in a standard or bracket 23 bolted or otherwise/secured to the lower wall of the casing, as shown inFig. 1. Rigidly secured to the miter gear 21 is a ratchet wheel 24 and spaced therefrom and rigid with the 4shaft one of the side Walls of the casino and theother end to the lever at a point atdjacent to i 10 that of the attachment of the pull rod.

As above stated, the pawl 3() is double acting in character, that is to say, it is adaptedy to be shifted to cause its toes 28 and 29 to engage with the respective ratchet wheels 25 and 2:4, and, in order to retain the toes in 'engagement n 1th the required ratchet wheel, a spring 38 is provided which is held for longitudinal sliding movements upon the lever 33 by keepers 39 rigid therewith. Une end of the spring is provided with a iingerhold 40 by which the formerr may be adjusted upon the level', .and its other (nd isv` outwardly curved and its terminal is adapted to engage with either of a pair vof notches or seats 41 in the paWl 30. A\/\/ hen the spring is in the position shown in Fig. 4, under which conditions the toe 29 of the pawl is in engagement with the ratchet Wheel 24, the terminal of the spring rests in the notch of the arm of the 30 pawl carrying the toe 29, but, when it is desired to bring the toe 28l into engagement with the ratchet wheel 25, the spring .s shifted longitudinally of the lever to bring the said terminal into engagement with the notch of the arm carrying the toe 28. lt may be noted at this point that this is all the adjustment necessary to the machine to effect reverse movements of the curtain.

The strikers l27 are adapted toengage with a trip`v lever 42 that is carried by ashaft 43 supported at one end in a bearing in the rear wall of the casing and at its other end in a hanger '44 also supported from the rear Wall of the casingA Upon the shaft 43 is wound a 45 coiled spring 45 one terminal 46 of which projects through an opening in the lever 42 and the other terminal 47 through an opening in the hanger 44. The shaft also carries a rear- Wardly projecting arm 48 terminating in a 50 hammer 49 that is adapted to strike the terminalwhirl .of a cathedral gong 50 supported by the rear Wall of the casing, it being observed that the end of the said wlurl is pro- I vided with an out-curved toe 51 arranged in 5.6 the path of movement of the hammer.

In order that the motion of the drivenshaft 10 shall be transmitted to the curtain 4. the latter has combined with it a sprocket chain 52, the links of which carry laterally projecting perforated ears 53, and through these ears and the curtain 4 are passed stitches 54, as clearly shown in Fig. 6, thereby to secure a stable connection between the parts. The material from which the stitches 54 are formed may be a thread or a wire, as n preferred, and, owing to the space between the ears 53, the flexibility of the curtain will in no Wisev be interfered with, The sprocket chain 52 is adapted to engage the sprocket wheel 19 on the shaft 10, so that as the latter 70 is driven, positive motion will be imparted to the curtain.

The operation of the device is as follows: Assuming that the car is running to its ter-. minus, the. parts will be in the position shown in Fig. 1, with the toe.2 9 of the pawl in engagement with the ratchet wheel 24. Upon a downward pull being imparted to the lever .by the pull rod 34,- and through its entire extent, the rollerI 10 will be turned 8O one-third ofV a revolution, and as there are siX of the strikers 27, it follows that two strokes Vof the gong will be. made, which will insure attention being called to the device.

The relation bctweenfthe parts of the apparatus is such that' a third revolution of the roller 10 will cause the name of the next succeeding street to appear opposite the sight opening 3. -When the parts are adjusted as described, the. hammer 49 will contact with 90 the underside of the toe 51 of the gong, and thereby sound the alarm. It will be. observed by reference to Fig. 7, that the names of the streets are duplicated in reverse order on the curtain, and this arrangement renders it unnecessary to shift the pawl at each end of the route, so that as long as the car runs from terminus to terminus, the adjustment of the parts remains undisturbed. -Should the car, ficm any reason, fail to run to either terminus, then it will be necessary to shift the pawl, and to effect this the operator will draw vdown upon the lever 33 a sufficient distanee to cause' the fingerhold 40 to be brought exteriorly .of the casing, whereupon the spring 38 will be moved in a forward direction, thereby bringing the toe 28 into engagement with the ratchet wheel 25'. New, upon a downstroke of the lever 33, the toc 28 will merely ride over the teeth of the ratchet wheel 25, and effect no movement of the curtain, but upon the pull rod being released., the spring operates to return the lever. to its normal osition and thus effectl the rotation of the ro ler 10 and the shifting of the curtain. 115 During'this latter operation of the apparatus, the hammer 49 is forced above the toe 51 and, in falling, strikes upon the upper side thereof and sounds the gong, the spring 45 under both operations of the lever 42 serving to 120 return it to its normal position.-` While seven of the curtain supporting rollers are herein shown, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to this number, as it will vary with the num 12e ber of streets that are j crossed.. In other words, the longer thel route from terminus to terminus, the longer the curtain and the greater the number of rollers, and vice versa.

It will be seen from the foregoing descrip- A tion thatwhile th'e im rovements herein defined are simple in c aracter, they Will be thorou hly eilicient for the purposes designed, and Wi l result in the production of an accurate and thoroughly reliable street `car indicator.

claim 1. A ca r indicating device embodying an endless curtain bearing the names of the streetsor stations, a sprocket chain carried by the curtain, a roller carrying at one end a sprocket Wheel to engage the chain and at its other end a miter gear, a shaft, a second miter gear rigid With' the shaft and meshing with that of the roller, a pair of o positely toothed ratchet Wheels' rigid with tie shaft,

and means for driving the second miter gear 1n either directlon comprising a double pawl, a rock lever upon which the paivl 1s mounted,

and a longitudinally shiftable spring carriedA by t'he level for rocking the paWl to bring it into enga ement'with one or the other of the ratchet W eels.

2. A car indicating device embodying an endless curtain bearing the names of the streets or stations, a sprocket chain carried by the curtain, a roller carrying at one end a sprocket Wheel to engage the chain and at its other end a miter gear, a shaft, a, second miter gear rigid `with the shaft andmeshing with that of the roller, a pair of oplpositely toothed ratchet Wheels rigid With't e shaft, means for driving the last-named gear in either direction comprising a double toothed pawl, a rock lever upon Which the lever is mounted, a longitudinally shiftable spring carried by the lever for rocking the paWl to bring it into e agement with one or the other-of the rateviet Wheels, and means for sounding an alarm as the curtain is Vshifted comprisin a disk rigid With' one of the ratchet W 1eels and carrying a strikers, a lever arranged in t e path of carried by the lever, anda cathedral gong with which the hammer is adapted to coact.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

BENJAMIN F. MGCAULEY Witnesses:

I. H. MILLER, J. BARBER KURTZ.

plurality of 'f movement of the strikers,L a hammer arma.Y 

